Ottoman embassy to France (1533)
Encyclopedia
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, vassal of the Ottoman Emperor Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
.
A safe-conduct
Safe-conduct
Safe conduct is the situation in time of international conflict or war where one state, a party to such conflict, issues to a person, usually an enemy state's subject, a pass or document to allow the enemy alien to traverse its territory without harassment, bodily harm, or fear of death. Safe...
is thought to have been obtained in 1532 for the embassy by the Ottoman interpreter and agent Janus Bey
Janus Bey
Janus Bey was an Ottoman Empire interpreter and ambassador who was active in Europe in the 1530s. In 1532 he visited Venice and had meetings with the Venitian government. He was considered as the ambassador for the Ottoman Empire, was well received, and was the beneficiary of large presents from...
from the French ambassador Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon , also Antoine de Rincon, was a Spanish-born diplomat in the service of France An influential envoy from the King of France to Sultan Soleyman I of the Ottoman Empire, he made various missions to Istanbul between 1530 and 1541....
. Janus Bey was at that time in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
meeting with the Venetian government.
The embassy arrived on galleys somewhere between Hyères
Hyères
Hyères , Provençal Occitan: Ieras in classical norm or Iero in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France....
and Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
in the beginning of the month of July 1533, and was led by Sherif Raïs. The embassy was received in Marseilles by a delegation of merchants, while Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
was travelling southward to the same city, where he was supposed to attend the wedding of his son Henri d'Orléans to Catherine de Médicis.
As diplomatic gift, the Ottoman embassy disembarked wild animals, including the famous "Lion of Barbarossa", as well as Christian prisoners, to the number of 100. The Ottoman group was welcomed by the French Admiral Baron de Saint-Blancard and then accompanied only to the region of Auvergne
Auvergne (région)
Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...
to meet with Francis I. On the way they were joined by the French ambassador to the Porte Antonio Rincon, and they finally arrived at Puy-en-Velay on 16 July 1533 to meet with the king.
The embassy was received by king Francis I on 19 July. English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
ambassadors also participated to the meeting. The Ottoman ambassador read a "Declaration of mutual friendship between the Kingdoms of France and Algiers" and a three-year trade agreement was sealed. The chains of the Christian prisoners were solemnly broken in front of the king.
Francis I would in turn dispatch Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon
Antonio Rincon , also Antoine de Rincon, was a Spanish-born diplomat in the service of France An influential envoy from the King of France to Sultan Soleyman I of the Ottoman Empire, he made various missions to Istanbul between 1530 and 1541....
to Barbarossa in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and then to Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
.
Francis I's rival Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
was informed of these encounters, and expressed great worry at these beginnings of a Franco-Ottoman alliance
Franco-Ottoman alliance
The Franco-Ottoman alliance, also Franco-Turkish alliance, was an alliance established in 1536 between the king of France Francis I and the Turkish ruler of the Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent. The alliance has been called "the first non-ideological diplomatic alliance of its kind between a...
.
A Second Ottoman embassy to France
Ottoman embassy to France (1534)
An Ottoman embassy to France occurred in 1534, with the objective to prepare and coordinate Franco-Ottoman offensives for the next year, 1535. The embassy closely followed a first Ottoman embassy to France in 1533, as well as the Conquest of Tunis by Hayreddin Barbarossa on 16 August 1534, which...
would again visit Francis I the following year, in 1534.